January 28, 2014

As part of supper tonight, I made kogane garei no nitsuke (simmered yellow sole).

今日の夕飯には黄金（こがね）ガレイの煮付けを作りました。

I used this junmai hon mirin.

この純米本みりんを使いました。

The raw ingredients are mochi rice (produced in Thailand), rice malt (made from rice produced in Thailand), and brewer's alcohol.

原材料は、もち米（タイ産）、米こうじ（タイ産米）、醸造アルコールです。

I previously made men tsuyu (noodle soup) using this junmai hon mirin, and found the men tsuyu was slightly better than my usual version, made with mirin-fu chomiryo (mirin-like seasoning).

前にこの純米本みりんを使って麺つゆを作り、私のいつもの、みりん風調味料で作ったものより少しは美味しいと思いました。

The water + sake, mirin, and soy sauce ratio was 5:1:1.

Thus, I used

100 ml water + sake

20 ml mirin

20 ml soy sauce

水＋酒、みりん、しょう油の割合は5:1:1。

よって、

水＋酒 100 ml

みりん 20 ml

しょう油 20 ml

使いました。

I simply rinsed each fillet with running water, made an x cut in the middle, and put in a large frying pan.

切り身をそれぞれ流水で洗って、真ん中にX字の切り込みを入れ、大きなフライパンに入れました。

Shimofuri (frosting) is a common step, but I omitted it. (I once did shimofuri, but I didn't like the resulant flavor; I thought that shimofuri made the fish bland.) I added the seasonings mentioned above, brought to a boil, placed two sheets of paper towel in place of an otoshi buta, and simmered for less than 10 minutes until done.

I don't like to peel the yamato imo because the skin is not thick and the part just below the skin is the most delicious part, but I peeled most of the skin because it was very soily, even after I scrubbed it with a tawashi.
大和芋の皮は薄く、また皮のすぐ下の部分が最も美味しい部分なので、皮を剥くのは嫌いなのですが、束子（たわし）でこすっても泥がついているので、皮は大部分剥きました。

Recommended amount of coffee beans to roast at a time/maximum capacity: 150/200 g

Features: With its appropriate number of holes with an appropriate size on the bottom, this roaster is designed so that first crack occurs in 12-14 minutes after the start of roasting when used with a 2,500 kcal/h portable gas burner (set to high right from the beginning).

The bottom area is considerably larger than the flame range. That's why you have to shake the pot back and forth and sideways and move it in a circular motion.

底面の面積は、炎の範囲よりかなり大きいです。そのため、鍋を前後左右に振ったり、円を描くように動かす必要があります。

***

Now, based on the above description, you should be able to decide which type of coffee roaster you want to make. I personally recommend the third one because it can roast 300-400 g of coffee beans properly.
さて、これまでの説明で、どの種類のコーヒー焙煎機を作りたいか決められると思います。個人的には、３番目のがコーヒー豆を300～400 g焙煎できるので、お薦めします。

Lastly, from my experience, I wouldn't recommend a skillet, cast iron pot, or other heavy pot. For such pots, you can't make holes on the bottom with nails, you can't control the heat at will because of their high heat capacity, and you can't shake a heavy pot continuously for 14-16 minutes.
最後に、自分自身の経験から、フライパン、鉄鍋など重い鍋は薦めません。そういう鍋だと、釘で底に穴を開けられないし、熱容量が高いので、火力を自由に調節できないし、14～16分も振り続けられないからです。

To be continued. The next post will be a summary of direct flame roasting.
続く。次の記事は直火焙煎のまとめです。

January 18, 2014

Note: The following description applies to direct-flame not hot air coffee roasting.

注：下記の記述は直火（熱風ではなく）コーヒー焙煎に当てはまることです。

First of all, let me show you my ideal coffee roaster No. 1.

まずは、私が理想とするコーヒー焙煎機一号機を見て下さい。

I have attached a piece of bamboo as a handle to facilitate shaking.
簡単に振れるよう、柄として竹を付けました。

This time, I decided to test whether it could roast 400 g of coffee beans evenly.
今回は、コーヒー豆400 gをムラなく焙煎できるか試すことにしました。

You have to place a lid or something similar on the top for the first 10 minutes of roasting to keep the moisture inside the pot high.
This time, I decided to cover about 3/4 of the top.
焙煎の最初の10分間は、上部に蓋などをして、鍋の内部の湿度を高く保つ必要があります。
今回は、上部の約3/4を覆うことにしました。

Note: As for the milk can roaster, you need not cover the top, because of its great height. A great feature of the milk can roaster is that you don't have to worry about exhaust air control.
注： ミルク缶焙煎機の場合は、高さがあるので、上部を覆う必要はありません。ミルク缶焙煎機の偉大な特徴の一つは、排気のコントロールを心配する必要がないことです。

Start roasting with the heat set to medium or high, depending on the heating power of the burner. If your burner has a heating power of 2,600 kcal/h or greater, you may want to start with medium. I started with the heat set to high because of the large amount of coffee beans.
Make sure that chaff starts to come off in about 3-4 minutes. If earlier, you need to lower the heat.
It is very important to keep in mind that coffee roasting is a two-phase process, drying phase and chemical reaction phase.
I first thought that I'd dry the beans for 12 minutes, but first crack occurred at around 11:45, so I changed my mind and removed the lid. Then, I took this photo and replaced the gas cylinder with a new one.
コンロの火力によりますが、火を中か強にして焙煎を始めます。火力が2,600 kcal/h以上のコンロであれば、中火で始めたほうがいいと思います。私は、コーヒー豆の量が多いので、火を強にして始めました。
極めて重要な留意点は、コーヒーの焙煎は２段階の工程であることです。乾燥段階と化学反応段階です。
最初は12分間、豆を乾燥させようと思っていたのですが、１ハゼが11:45に起きたので、考えを変え、蓋を取りました。この写真を撮って、ガスボンベを新しいのに交換しました。

Also, keep in mind that first crack should occur at 12-14 minutes after the start of roasting.
また、１ハゼは焙煎開始後12～14分後にすべきだということにも留意して下さい。

First crack continues for about 1-2 minutes. At this point, the beans lose weight by about 15%. When you bring them to second crack, they will lose weight by up to 20%.
１ハゼは１～２分続きます。この時点で、豆は15%程度重さが減ります。２ハゼまで持っていくと、20%まで重さが減ります。

When you have roasted your beans to the desired level, cool them immediately. I have an electric fan (not shown).
豆を好みのレベルまで焙煎したら、すぐに冷やして下さい。私は電気扇風機（写真には写ってません）を持っています。

I roasted my beans for a total of about 16 minutes.
I got 325 g of roasted beans.
合わせて16分程度焙煎しました。
焙煎した豆が325 gできました。

But, I have a new mission!
Yesterday, I found this great toaster oven sold for 500 yen at the second-hand store. Of course, I grabbed it!
しかし、私には新たなミッションが！
昨日、リサイクルショップでこのすごいオーブントースターが500円で売っていました。もちろん、すぐ買いました！

Two heating elements at the top and one at the bottom.
ヒータは上に２つ、下に１つ。

It has a temperature control!
温度調節もあります！

I think I'll convert this toaster oven into a coffee roaster.
このオーブントースターをコーヒー焙煎機にしようと思います。

To be continuted. I haven't yet talked about the features of my three roasters (milk can, kettle, and alumite pot roasters).
続く。私の３種類の焙煎機（ミルク缶焙煎機、やかん焙煎機、アルマイト焙煎機）の特徴について、まだ話してません。

January 11, 2014

I previously used a 26-cm diameter shallow, alumite pot to try to roast 200 g of coffee beans, but I failed, as I described here. After much thought, I decided to give the pot another try, but this time after making some holes at the bottom.

January 4, 2014

In December last year, Washoku was added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list. It's very important to note that Washoku as the traditional dietary cultures of the Japanese has been recognized as a cultural asset, not any particular Japanese foods or dishes.

去年12月、和食がユネスコの無形文化遺産に登録されました。とても重要なことは、或る特定の日本の食品や料理ではなく、日本人の伝統的な食文化としての和食が文化遺産と認められたことです。The Nomination
file no. 00869
for inscription in 2013 on the Representative List
of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity summarizes WASHOKU as follows:WASHOKU is social practice
based on a comprehensive set of skills, knowledge, practice and traditions
related to the production, processing, preparation and consumption of food.「無形文化遺産の代表的な一覧表への記載についての提案書」（農林水産省作成仮訳）では、和食を次のように要約しています。「和食」は食の生産から加工、準備及び消費に至るまでの技能や知識、実践や伝統に係る包括的な社会的慣習である。According to the leaflet introducing WASHOKU, published by the Government of Japan, WASHOKU has these four features:Various fresh ingredients and using their natural tastesWell-balanced and healthy dietsEmphasis of the beauty of nature in the presentationConnecting to annual events(To view the leaflet, go to this site first and then click the Japanese text below the leaflet image.)